Texas abortion lawsuit over ASC component set for August trial

Opponents and supporters of abortion rights rally in the State Capitol rotunda in Austin, Texas on July 12, 2013. / AP Photo/Tamir Kalifa

AUSTIN — The latest legal challenge to Texas’ sweeping abortion restrictions — a lawsuit aimed at blocking a regulation that requires clinics to meet the standards of an outpatient surgical center — will go to trial on August 4.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel, in an order signed Monday, issued a schedule for the case, granting a motion from abortion providers suing the state and the Texas Attorney General’s Office to start the trial in August.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and Whole Woman’s Health — which operates abortion clinics in Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio — filed suit earlier this month asking a district court in Austin to block the state from implementing the new regulation, which is set to kick in on Sept. 1.

Abortion-rights groups have said that clinics around the state will be unable to afford the costly upgrades, forcing them to close and leaving women in remote areas of the state without access to an abortion.